“There was. He’s going to be all right, I think. He’ll always love his mother, but now he realizes who she is. It’s an important distinction.”
“We’re holding hands.”
“We are. So while I’m holding you prisoner, tell me about CJ.”
She did, leaving Dana and Pete out of the equation.
“And how did Dana fit in?” he asked when she’d finished, not one bit fooled.
“In a way I can never talk about.”
“So CJ’s gone for good. And you didn’t have even the slightest desire to reclaim that fancy life you had with him?”
“I want a life with CJ the way I want an abscessed tooth, Marsh.”
“I hear he’s a smooth guy. Charming. Sophisticated. All the things I’m not.”
She was surprised at the admission. He was a supremely confident man, but clearly he had his vulnerabilities. “You know, I’ve noticed that. I have this chart in my bedroom. You and CJ. Oh, and George Clooney. Check marks, the whole nine yards. You’ll have to come and see it.”
“In your bedroom?”
“Right above my bed.”
“I’ve never gotten that far into the inner sanctum.”
“You know who gets the biggest mark for charm?”
“Tell me.”
“This redneck environmentalist who lives down the road. Here’s what I find charming. He does what he has to, even when it’s not fun. And sometimes he gives up what he really wants, so he can help this crazy little boy. He’s not very good at explaining himself, which is a mark against him. But in the end, it’s all pretty clear.”
“Sounds like quite a guy.”
“I think so.”
“This house is going to seem awfully lonely tonight, what with Bay gone for the evening and Sylvia gone for good.”
“Is it now?” She rested her free hand on his shoulder. “It’s possible you might need company. You know, somebody to fill the gap.”
“It’s possible.”
“And if I stay, just to help, can we draw all the shades and bar the doors? Just in case somebody from the past comes prowling around again?”
“We can, but speaking for myself, from now on, I plan to be way too busy to notice anybody but you.”
She smiled, and she supposed that, against her better judgment, everything she felt was right there in her eyes. “You can speak for me, too.”
“I’d rather just quit speaking altogether.”
“You have the best ideas,” she said, just before she kissed him.
epilogue
“Three whole months I been open.” Wanda looked around Wanda’s Wonderful Pies, which was closed for the evening, and shook her head slowly, as though she couldn’t believe it. “How many pies have gone through here, do you suppose?”
“You didn’t keep track?” Tracy asked.
“Dana did that for me. It’s here somewhere in the paperwork she left behind. Whoever takes her place can find it.”
Janya was slicing an apple-cranberry pie with brown sugar topping. “Have you finished the interviews?”
“I’ve got a couple good possibilities. I’ll have somebody helping me serve and bake by next week. I got to. You all can’t keep coming in and pretending you’re here to buy pie, when you’re really just keeping the place going.”
Tracy tried to look innocent and smile, but that was exactly what they had been doing in the weeks since Dana had driven away in Pete’s SUV. Stopping by on a regular rotation, washing dishes, pretending they had to practice making piecrusts, chopping apples and peaches, squeezing an endless number of limes and lemons, and tasting and critiquing Wanda’s newest creations. Nobody had really expected to fool her.
“You’re doing a lot of that smiling thing these days, Ms. Deloche,” Wanda said. “The Cheshire cat has nothing on you.”
“Something finally went right this summer.” Tracy looked up from setting the tables they’d pulled side to side so they could all sit together. They had brought in pasta and salad from the Tuscan restaurant that had been CJ’s only useful legacy, and would top it off with pie. They were having their own private anniversary party to celebrate Wanda’s first successful quarter. Wanda’s Wonderful Pies was holding its own, and in the present economy, that meant she was a winner.
“You and Marsh really going away this weekend?”
“Just the two of us. Bay’s going to SeaWorld with Adam’s family.”
“Where are you going?” Janya asked.
“A romantic little hotel on the beach somewhere. Marsh said he’d surprise me. Which means a shack on stilts out in the water, with dolphins and sharks swimming right underneath us. Or alligators.”
Wanda shook her head in disbelief. “You and that tree hugger. I wasn’t sure you’d ever get it on, you being so